Valentine’s Day Special

I was supposed to be elsewhere for the 14th February, thus I wasn’t expecting to have to cook anything that special. However as life is, nothing goes as smoothly as one would hope it would, and plans change. So I’ve been left with the challenge of whipping up something nice for dinner this evening. Mom and dad are here, my brother is visiting (he is extremely fussy when it comes to food) and I’ve invited my best friend Katie over to join us.

As I look in my fridge, all I can see is chicken, chicken, chicken – which is great as Laurence likes chicken and ‘plain’ dishes. Perfect. Now what to do with it?! It’s kind of a dreary day outside; windy, rainy and dull. Dad’s already starting on the fire and I’m sitting with a hot water bottle in the kitchen, coffee in hand, pondering on what makes a simple, plain, yet tasty dish, which satisfies all needs of a good hearty dinner, with a special hint for valentine’s day.

Hey presto – Coq au vin! I haven’t had time to put anything in the slow cooker, and I don’t have time to go out and buy any ingredients… what do we have in the fridge? Chicken: yep, garlic: yep, bacon: yep, shallots: yep, mushrooms: yep, herbs: yep, stock: yep, and of course red wine: YEP!

I look through all Mom’s old cooking books to find a recipe which fits my needs: quick and simple. I find a Casserole book where Mom makes her heavenly beef bourguignon and Irish stew from and I’ve got the perfect recipe:

Coq Au Vin (serves 4)

1.5kg chicken pieces

Plain flour

40g butter

2 cloves garlic, crushed

200g bacon, chopped

250g shallots

200g button mushrooms, halved

2 tbsp brandy

250ml dry red wine

250ml chicken stock

Fresh parsley

2 tsp finely chopped thyme

1 bay leaf

2 tbsp tomato puree

Toss chicken in the flour and shake away any excess flour.

Heat the butter in a large saucepan and cook the chicken until browned all over

Drain all but 1 tbsp of the liquid from the pan and remove the chicken.

Cook the garlic, bacon, shallots and mushrooms in the remaining liquid

Return the chicken to the pan. Add the brandy, wine, stock, herbs, bay leaf and puree. Cover and simmer for around 30 minutes or until the chicken is tender

Remove the chicken from the pan and simmer the sauce until thickened.

Discard bay leaf before serving

Serve the chicken with the sauce

It’s the perfect combination of warmth and flavour with the simplicity that anyone can do it. Now for pudding? Uh-oh this could be a tricky one. Again, I’m limited for time and I need something that everyone will like. I know Laurence likes toffee, I know Mom loves custard, I know Dad is absolutely obsessed with dates (they have to be from Israel) and I know that Katie pretty much likes anything sweet… quick look in Delia’s Christmas specials…. Sticky Toffee Pudding anyone? Yes please.

As long as you have some double cream for the sauce, you’ve probably got pretty much everything else in your cupboards somewhere. Here’s the recipe:

Sticky Toffee Pudding (Serves 6)

175g stoned dates, chopped (if desired)

½ tsp vanilla essence

2 tsp camp coffee essence

¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda

75g unsalted butter, room temperature

Delia uses 150g caster sugar but I like to replace this with light muscovado or demerara sugar to give it a richer taste

2 eggs, beaten

175g self-raising flour, sifted

I also like to add 1 tbsp black treacle and 1 tbsp golden syrup to give it that really sticky texture